About Mark

Who the hell are you and why should I take you seriously?

Just some guy who reads a lot. And don’t take anything I say seriously. Unless you want to, of course. But the point is to think for yourself. If you like some of the things I say, great. If not, that’s fine too.

But, to answer your question, my name is Mark Manson. I’m 33 years old. I grew up in Austin, Texas. Went to school and lived in Boston. Traveled and lived all over the world for about seven years. Now I live in New York City. I enjoy cats and whiskey, although not at the same time.

So, why do you write about all this stuff?

Most of what I write is written for myself, first and foremost. I don’t share these ideas because I think I’m right and other people are wrong. I write them because I think I’m wrong, and correcting my own misjudgments on a public platform seems to help out a lot of other people in the process.

This is a big site, where should I start?

I recommend starting with each of the articles on the Best Articles page.

Why did you start this site?

I started blogging in 2007, just for fun. My roommates at the time were blogging about their lives and they encouraged me do the same. In the beginning, it was mostly about my party life and the girls I was dating. I never imagined it would be read by more than a handful of friends and acquaintances.

Later, it started catching on and I adapted it into a form of marketing for a dating advice business I was building at the time. A few years went by and I discovered that 1) writing was the one thing I seemed to enjoy more than anything else, and 2) it seemed to be the only thing I was kind of good at. So in 2010, I doubled down on writing and started to take this site seriously as a project I wanted to build a career out of. Three years later, I had improved it to the point of not being horrible. Then everyone lived happily ever after.

Do you have a degree in psychology? Shouldn’t you have one?

No and no. I told you not to take me seriously, remember?

So how did you learn about all this stuff?

This is a three-part answer:

While other kids were listening to Backstreet Boys and watching MTV, I was reading Nietzsche. I was a weird kid in that I started reading about philosophy and psychology when I was still in my early teens. When I got to college, I studied International Relations (which is kind of a cross between world history and political science) and got involved with a number of self-help movements of varying levels of sleaze and cheese. The point here is that I’ve spent most of my life reading a lot about these topics. It’s always been a passion and hobby of mine, so when I started writing about them a few years ago, I had half a lifetime of thought to immediately call upon.

I get bored easily. This gets me into trouble a lot, but it also causes me to live what others would consider a fairly extreme life with a lot of “learning experiences” (i.e., crazy, stupid mistakes). I quit my first day job two months in to start an internet business. I’ve traveled to over 60 countries and speak three languages. I’ve gone broke multiple times and lived on people’s couches. I bring this up only to point out that I think real understanding only comes through living through failures, and I’ve never shied away from failure. After all, failure is never boring.

Once I started developing a large readership, I realized that I should be aware of the science out there, so I’ve spent a number of years studying the academic research on things such as happiness, passion, goals, relationships and so on. I decided that if people are going to listen to me, I should be well-informed on a lot of the current research.

You write things that contradict a lot of the popular life advice and self-help out there. What’s your problem, bro?

The problem is that feeling good about yourself isn’t the same thing as being good as yourself. In fact, a lot of this feel good stuff (like The Law of Attraction, or “everyone is special and exceptional,” or “just stay positive”) can be damaging in the long-run, as it turns us into a population of self-absorbed, entitled nitwits.

Possibly the most useful trait in life is resilience, and you build resilience through experiencing difficulty and challenges. The same way you must break down your body to build up your muscle and bone, you must experience a healthy amount of adversity to build up your emotional and psychological strength.

Who does the artwork on your site?

The art on the front page was done by a very talented woman named Tony Todorova. She also did the artwork for the articles here, here, and here. The rest of the site is either art/photos licensed from various websites, or done by myself.

What about the audio recordings?

Do you have a day job? How do you make money?

Good question. I don’t have advertisements. I don’t work for any publisher or magazine or editor. I don’t freelance or sell my work to other publications. So how do I do this and still eat?

From you.

See, to remain independent, to keep sharing my unabridged thoughts and dropping F-Bombs like it’s Dresden in 1944, I depend on the support of the very people who read me every week. And I feel strongly that that’s the way it should be.

Click here to learn more about how to support the site and gain access to everything.

What about social media? Can I stalk you?

How did you get so handsome?

Sigh. Everybody asks me this. If I knew, do you really think I’d be blogging?

Do you really eat that many burritos or are you just trying to impress people?

You got me. I’m still trying to prove something.

Hey Mark, my significant other called me X days ago, and then said Y, and when I asked my best friend’s mother for advice, she said that I should do Z, but see my partner is like the love of my life and he/she just keeps fucking everything up in Q way, and…

[6 pages later…]

So what do you think I should do? Should I move to Tahiti to be with him/her? Or should I dump them and join the circus? I’m so confused.

Me too.

This is getting long. Is this FAQ-like thing almost over?

Almost.

But seriously, I love/hate you, can I email you?

Yes, you can. Click over to the Contact Page. I’m not able to reply to everyone, but I do read everything.

Do you do interviews or public appearances?

I do! But not as often as I used to. Please read my guidelines on the Contact Page to learn about interviewing me or media appearances.

If you want to see me speak somewhere, then you should follow me on Facebook and/or sign up for my email list as those are the places I announce things.

Can I go now?

Yes, you may go.

Subscribe to the Site and Get Access to More Amazing Shit

Hi there. This is the part of the website where I put a big toothy grin on my face and scream “BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!” at you in hopes to hold your attention for more than 30 milliseconds.

Because wait, there actually is more. If you’d like to check out some online courses I’ve put together, if you’d like to get special subscribers-only articles and responses from me, and if you’re interested in hearing me answer reader questions like I’m Anne fucking Landers and talk a bit more about my own experiences, my business ventures, and what I eat for breakfast on Sundays, well, then there actually is more. A lot more.

Become a subscriber to the site and get all that extra cool stuff. Just click the pretty, pretty button below to get started.